It's Not Anybody's Fault

 Doug B. over at Groping The Elephant has written a couple of posts (here and here) on the recent outbreak of tornadoes in our area in the South and Midwest. I wasn't going to comment about the storms until after reading Doug's comments and stumbling upon the following video.



As a former Christian, most Christians reading this will probably think I was never a "true" Christian, but in my former life I held tight to the comfort in the belief that God watched over me. The only change between then and now is that I no longer believe in a Divine creator, and yet my family and I were unscathed by the storm. It's videos like these that break my heart not because I believe that they're stupid to pray a storm away but that in the aftermath while believers share their survival story with others those who don't survive are often forgotten or even blamed for their own deaths. I believe that prayer does bring comfort to the believer but after the storm settles most believers don't wrestle with the question of why. As Doug brought up in his post good ol' defender of the faith Pat Robertson stated that it is our fault that people died. Our fault. God is blameless and we brought our own demise upon ourselves because we failed to pray. As families across my county huddled in their basements and shelters I'm certain that the vast majority of people were praying their hearts out, and the storms didn't miraculously stop.

I am thankful that my family avoided the storms but I understand and accept that it was probability and not divine protection. It is nobody's fault that that the storms brought death and destruction. Prayer doesn't protect but I admit that it may bring comfort, yet what we should be doing is helping instead of damning our fellow man. My heart goes out to those that didn't make it and I hope that the local communities affected by the storms will help each other rebuild and recover.